For over a hundred years it has been well recognized that naturally occurring processes are inherently mixing processes and that the reverse procedure, unmixing or separation processes, typically creates challenging problems for engineers and the like. Nonetheless, many processes and apparatuses have been developed in order to transform a mixture of substances into two or more products which differ from each other in composition.
Conventional techniques which induce precipitation of solids from solutions in order to produce mixtures include crystallization, centrifugation, clarification and separation agent employment. Subsequent to mixture formation, the solids are separated from liquids by typical methods including evaporation, filtration, decanting and absorption. Such methods can be environmentally hazardous since they often require the vaporization and transporting of toxic solvents as well as the employment of expensive reagents. Moreover, known separation devices usually perform at atmospheric pressure or pressures lower than atmospheric and they often require temperature elevation before any solids may be separated from fluids.
The instant invention, therefore, relates to a novel apparatus for removing solids from fluids. More particularly, the apparatus comprises an extruder and a barrel comprising a movable cap and an auger which allows for solids and liquids to be isolated from one another (batch or continuously) under pressure without employing inefficient, energy intensive and environmentally unfavorable steps.